August 02, 2008	Saturday	Rajab 29, 1429

HYDERABAD, Aug 1: There are many beliefs and superstitions about the eclipse. While in some places it is considered a bad omen, in others it is considered an opportunity for warding off the evil. Some consider an eclipse as the right time for special treatment for a variety of afflictions.

A practitioner of herbal medicines here says that solar eclipse can do wonders for victims of the crippling disease of polio.

At a time when dozens of children in various parts of the country find themselves afflicted with the disease because they were not given polio drops either because of ignorance of their parents or opposition by some extremist elements, the Hakim took some of his young polio patients to the bank of Indus, near Kotri, on Friday when the solar eclipse set in.

Waist-deep holes were dug in the ground and the children were made to stand in them till the time the eclipse lasted. It could not be ascertained if the children had received the polio drop.—Dawn photo by Yusuf Nagori